Nice photo of your 'Frist Love', MA was probably my second hosta purchased that I actually marked with the name tag. Should of known I would be hooked on hostas then.
Here is my 'First Love' June.

Gorgeous 'June', Trudy. I love my 'June' too. I bought a second one to grow in more sunlight

montana Aureomarginata would be mine also...second would be Blue Angel. A mature one of either is very grand.

Paul

Here's the hosta that i consider my first love. A friend gave me 3 large divisions of this Krossa Regal 4 years ago. I thought hostas were green, green and white, and blueish:). Trying to identify it made me aware of the endless types of these things and an obsession was born. As you can see he is happy here too.

mayan moon at englearth gardens ... who knew ...

it has another name .. abiqua something or another..

ken

Thanks irawon! Everyone needs at least three Junes....room permitting.
When June is put into a bit more sunlight the center will be more yellow. Making a very nice looking June also.

That's Abiqua Moonbeam,Ken! As far as the answer to the question,I don't know. I originally bought and planted 9 hostas back in 2002. Of course one leads to another,and another..... Phil

LuckyKat , what a beauty, your 'Krossa Regal' is. Mine is nowhere near that size. I purchased 3 KRs in 2007 after I saw a neighbour's recent planting of 12. She had requested a serene garden from her landscapist. Those 12 KRs subsequently required dividing. I hope I don't encounter that problem as I have tree roots to contend with. I just happened to take a picture this morning. I had to remove about 10 leaves from 'Regal Splendor' earlier this month due to wilting.

ken, i googled abiqua moonbeam and can see why you liked it so much.

Patriot was my first love- I saw them at Lowes, I fell in love and bought 4. They were beautiful and have been ever since.

It was the Blue Angel at Seawright's display garden. I kept walking around and around it looking for a name tag. Then one of the nursery folks told me it was Blue Angel. I knew I had to have one. Here is that plant.

Steve

Steve, that's a lovely 'Blue Angel'. How have you set it off? I don't think I have fully appreciated mine because I planted it with too many like-coloured hostas and it seems to have gotten lost in the crowd - 3 Krossa Regals and Bressingham Blue. BB is definitely being moved.

Alycia, I love the white crisp edges on 'Patriot'. Mine hasn't been growing too well, mostly because I presented the hosta with difficult growing conditions. Planted too deeply in addition to tree root competition. I dug it up last fall and set it higher. Thanks to ken adrian I now know that I should have dropped it twice. Nevertheless, it is growing better. I also found a more mature 'Patriot' at Budd Gardens and scooped it up.

I would really love to see a picture of your 'Patriot'.

montana 'Aureomarginata'. A gift from my brother nearly 20 years ago.

Convinced me Hosta weren't just those plain, boring, green things.

tj

That's an outstanding specimen, TJ. What a great gift.

Steve

tjugajunkie, amazing MA! How tall and wide has it gotten? I hope I've left enough room for mine.

Originally, I rather disliked Hosta, mainly because I thought they were all either green or white and green varigated and that they didn't flower. Then we bought the Cottage and inherited three BIG NOID greens and another burnt to a crisp green NOID. I moved the crispy ones out of full sun to where the others were because I felt bad for them and figured I'd rehome the whole lot this year (this was last year). Then they flowered and the hummingbirds were pretty happy. So I decided they could stay. Until they came back this year even bigger and took over the whole place, crowding out what was left there in that bed. So I split them and ended up with a new bed, so I looked into Hosta and found a world of colors and variants!

Right now, I would have to say my fav is my sporting First First, but I like all the ones I've bought and have a want list that's bigger than my garden!!

I'm going to say the hosta at my inlaws' house started it off for me, since I only became interested in gardening six or seven years ago. They have a giant blue one out front and I always thought it was such a handsome plant. When I realized my garden would need to be shade plants, I was excited to grow my own hosta. I was over at their house today and took a picture of the one that first caught my eye. It's huge...I think it must be Blue Angel?

That is a gorgeous Blue Angel.

Steve

I fell in love with my first hosta when I was about 10. Don't know what it was, we were visiting relatives. I just remember it was huge, green, and I thought they were the biggest leaves in the world. Spent my first 40 years living in So. Cal so hostas were not really an option. So I forgot about them till I moved to Washington State. Yipee! Saw a mature Montana Aureomarginata at a display garden and fell in love all over again. 200 plus hosta later and it is still my favorite. Followed by Sagae.

ken,

do you know what happened to englearth (sp?) gardens, please?

It was in my database GPS as a place we liked to visit, but it seems it's gone, family didn't keep it goin'?

pls reply to me at butwheat73@gmail.com . . .

tnx,

hh

Amazing 'Blue Angel'. I wonder its age.

Alexis, I love 'Sagae' too. I have been trying to grow it since 2007. I finally bought a mature plant and it's waiting to be put in the ground.

Ken, what's the story behind englearth ?

It's got to be at least 15 years old, I guess. That's about as long as I've lived here and I don't remember it ever not being there.

June or looks

Blue Cadet or form

above is Supposed to say...love June on its looks....and blue cadet on its form....(shouldn't post late at night)

My first love was Frances Williams and still one of my faves, it was the second hosta that I purchased. It has been transplanted twice (I moved) and this is its third year here at this home.

Today I bought montana 'Aureomarginata' after seeing the beautiful pics on here.

{{gwi:1019654}}

{{gwi:1019655}}

{{gwi:1019657}}

Paula b your 'Frances Williams' is lovely. I know you won't be sorry you bought montana 'Aureomarginata'.

While waiting for my grandson to finish preschool classes in 2008, I parked in a little town park which had a beautiful H.m. 'Aureomarginata' or 'Atlantis' growing. That sparked my revamping of my gardens, that is replacing many old duplicates with newer more interesting hostas. Here is my H.m.'Aureomarginata' and 'Atlantis'(second) last year. Bernd

Steve & irawon- Thanks.

Ira- That Aureomarginata started as a 3-4 eyed gift that is now 80 inches wide and about 3 ft high. No telling how big it could have been as I've cut several chunks out to give away through the years.

tj

Bernd, 'Atlantis' and m. 'Aureomarginata' look very similar except A 's leaves appears more matt and m. A.'s appear more shiny. If you had room for only one which would you plant?

irawon, I like 'Aureomarginata' more. There are also other lookalikes. I also have H.'Abba Dabba Wow', which is similar. H.'Ebb Tide' comes close.
Bernd

Thanks for the speedy response, Bernd. I guess I won't buy "Atlantis'. I already have too many look-alikes to 'Great Expectations'

Atlantis looks nothing like Great Expectations. It has the same color as montana Aureomarginata, but the leaf form is completely different. Look at these photos of Atlantis. IMO, this is a must have Hosta for everyone.

Do these leaves look like GE or MA? This Hosta meets the 10 foot rule by far.

Here's what a mature whole plant looks like. It's both beautiful and unique.

Steve

Okay random question, but where does everyone get those little metal name tags?

OK, another one goes on the wish list...Atlantis.

If I keep it up, I'm going to have to plant in the cracks of the driveway...

Deanna

Gardenfanatic, I'm sure there is a hosta just the right size to grow in the cracks of the driveway too!!!

I did not like the old fashioned hosta which grew at my husband's house when we got married, so I ordered a few from PDN. Never saw any except the "green and white" one at all.
Then, we were impressed by good old plantaginea with its huge fragrant blooms that year, and the awesome size of S&S, two of the six or seven plants I'd ordered in 2010.

We dug up all those hosta from his Massachusetts garden last fall and moved them south to zone 9a/8b where my obsession with hosta has flourished almost exponentially this growing season.

Steve, I really like your 'Atlantis'. Are there steroids in your soil? What I meant was that I have some hostas that look like 'Great Expectations' and that I'd prefer not to plant any more look-alikes.

Irawon,

I wish. That one belongs to Bob and Diane Adams. Their Oakenstone Garden is spectacular. It's all dappled shade through high Oaks that are pruned up for more sunlight. Huge mature specimens and just a tiny amount of grass which serves as paths.

Really it's just a matter of time and good cultural practices to be able to grow an Atlantis like this. Many people on this forum have similar specimens.

Steve

Here is a picture of my H.'Atlantis' just taken this morning, it continues to grow.
Bernd

Our 1st hosta (Elegans?) was a NOID from a friend when we swapped a few garden plants in 2005. Still in awe of those huge blue leaves all summer long on the north side of the house.

Corrine

Mine was this plant right here, my Fortunei Aureomarginata. I grabbed it at a local garden shop in 2009, I think. I thought nothing too much of it, until last year, it exploded from a little bitty thing to what's in this pic. I jumped online to see what other kinds of hostas there might be. LOL... I can't wait to see what it'll look like this season.

Don B.

What a great thread. Thanks for starting it, Ira. And thanks for resurrecting it corrine. BTW, I do believe that is Elegans. It's a beauty.

Steve

You won't believe this, but my first love was an undulata. Yup. Because it reminded me of my muched loved Grandmother, who could grow anything. (History)My grandmother grew a row of hostas in the narrow space between homes in her Chicago bungalo. In 1971 she gave me some divisions to plant in front of a row of honeysuckles that bordered our home in the suburbs. Dopey looking, I thought, but they filled that empty ground between the bushes and the grass. They reappeared after each winter bigger and more robust. Good.

Well, we moved to California in '76 and she died in the 90's and one day as I wandered thru a nursery here in northern California I saw a hosta (undulata).(they only had one variety) THAT will remind me of my grandmother and hey it looks sorta nice with the green AND white parts. Pot it up and plop it on the deck.

About when it turned all green, I went on a computer 1996 or so, and found a website that told me it wasn't over fertilization that turned it green, but rather it always did that. Then I learned that there were LOTS of kinds of hostas. THAT is what done me in, so to speak.

-Babka

My first host was Frances Williams, loved the color. When we moved to the farm, FW came with us. I decided to get more when we found a small hosta nursery and I saw the many different varieties. I went for the big ones, still do. I bought S&S, Big Daddy, Regal Splendor and Sagae to name a few.

For many years I had the usual undulatas and lancifolia. Then every now and then I bought a new hosta: Golden Tiara, Wide Brim, Fortunei Aureomarginata and GE. Then life got tough and I gave up any hobbies or loves that I had. When the stress was over, one day, out of the blue, my love of gardening was reawakened---when I potted up my GE and moved it to a new location. That was the beginning of my love of hostas. Its beauty was stunning, and now I am a hostaholic.

I had the usual oldies, but it was this amazing NOID that really got me interested. A Google search to try and identify the variety eventually led me to this forum (happy day), and to the realization that my favourite hosta, never ID'd, actually had HVX (sad day) It's long gone with a heuchera now in that spot, and has been replaced in my heart with more than 100 others!
Jan